Daiki Kato Wins Hamamatsu Academy Competition

Daiki Kato (22) recently won the top prize at the 17th Hamamatsu International Piano Academy Competition playing on Yamaha’s CFX; the most popular piano in the competition. The Tokyo native is currently studying with Professor  Fumiko Eguchi of the Showa University of Music in Tokyo where he is a 4th year student.

The Hamamatsu International Piano Academy has been nurturing young concert pianists since 1996. It is directed by the internationally renowned pianist Hiroko Nakamura and this year marks the 17th time the event has been held. According to a study, 95% of Japanese professional classical pianists under the age of 35 have attended or been involved with the Hamamatsu Academy!

In addition to its popularity with aspiring young Japanese pianists it attracts many international students as well. The Academy consists of individual open lessons by well-known professors, a lecture concert series, and it finishes with a competition giving students the experience of an actual international competition.

The Academy invites just 24 carefully selected students all of whom have individual lessons from each faculty member. Later on the students will also receive lessons on the concerto they have elected to perform in the final competition.
This year’s faculty members were; Hiroko Nakamura – Musical Director, John Perry – Colburn School of Los Angeles, Pavel Gililov – Mozarteum University of Salzburg, SooJung Shin –National University of Seoul.

2013 Prize Winners:
1st Daiki Kato
2nd SuYeon Kim
3rd Philippe Ivanov
4th Yukine Koroki
5th Shion Ota
6th HyeJun Kim